The 2020-2021 Silly Season will be remembered most for the announcement that NBA legend Michael Jordan and NASCAR championship contender Denny Hamlin will join forces to field a NASCAR team for Darrell Wallace, Jr. beginning in 2021.
The celebrity involvement and the social justice implications of the team gathered headlines around the world (far beyond the realm of NASCAR). It is also expected that this will give Wallace a competitive ride for the first time in his Cup career.
However, with all due respect to the new Jordan-Hamlin-Wallace partnership, there have been other Silly Season transactions, although not covered by CNN and other mainstream media outlets.
Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain was barely given six hours to enjoy the spotlight after the announcement he will be driving the #42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.
While Chastain may not have had a chance to shine in the Cup series prior to 2021 (an average 27.68 finishing positions and just one Top-10 over 79 career starts), he was one of those drivers that was just showing up everywhere over the last few years: Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks.
You wouldn’t think a guy would lose out on an XFINITY ride due to the FBI raiding his would-be sponsor’s headquarters but you also wouldn’t think a guy would get a Cup ride because the ride’s former driver uttered a racial slur in an iRacing chat, but here we are.
Chastain is a guy who will do the most with what he’s given, and while Matt Kenseth hasn’t done much with the #42 Chevrolet (a pair of Top-10s, one Top-5 and an average finish of just under 20th in 27 starts), I think you can expect marked improvement from Chastain in 2021. He’s also a guy who helped increase the visibility and success of Niece Motorsports in the Truck Series and Kaulig Racing, who has come seemingly out of nowhere to challenge the big boys in the Xfinity Series.
He’s seen as an aggressive driver but I thought we liked that sort of thing. In fact, Chastain will be partnered with Kurt Busch who has had a bit of a career resurgence since coming over to Ganassi (athough one could certainly argue that resurgence started when he went to Stewart-Haas Racing). Don’t think that tag team won’t be exciting to watch.
Daniel Suarez
Overlooked in the Jordan/Hamlin team announcement was the fact that, in order for that to happen, two teams had to fold: Germain Racing – which gave Jordan/Hamlin a charter and Leavine Family Racing – which will give the team the cars to start off with.
However, it appears both of those teams will essentially be replaced. Whether Michael Jordan realizes it or not, his team will replace Leavine Family Racing as a satellite to Joe Gibbs. Meanwhile, Germain, in a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing
Leavine had been a satellite team to Joe Gibbs Racing, something I’m not sure Jordan will stomach his team becoming but there it is. Germain had a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and will be replaced in that capacity by Trackhouse Racing, founded and owned by former driver Justin Marks (who made six Cup starts between 2013-2018), with Daniel Suarez piloting the #99, left vacant since Carl Edwards departed Rousch-Fenway Racing for Joe Gibbs Racing. (Ironically, this would be the second time Suarez has taken over a number from Edwards, as he drove the #19 for JGR after Edwards retired.)
While I have great affection for RCR (and their ECR Engine program), I’m not expecting this to be the move that propels Suarez to the upper echelon of NASCAR’s Cup series. After 138 Cup starts, including many with top-tier teams like Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Suarez has never been able to follow up his 2016 Xfinity Series title with success at NASCAR’s top level. He has certainly had the equipment, he may have had the talent, but he most likely suffers from the same issue guys like Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and even Austin Dillon have: he was too used to running a distance second (at best) to the Cup guys that he never knew how to consistently vie for wins.
Alex Bowman
One of the big questions for the 2020-2021 Silly Season was who would take over in the #48 Chevrolet for 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports. In a move that seemed more geared towards just making an announcement than a decision, Hendrick decided to move Alex Bowman from the #88 to the #48, basically just replacing one question with another: “Who will drive the #88 in 2021?” or even “Will they run the #88 in 2021 or will it be replaced by another number?”
While one might argue Chase Elliott didn’t achieve the success until he moved from the #24 to the #9 for Hendrick, I doubt a mere cosmetic number change will provide a massive upswing in momentum for Bowman. Don’t take that as a knock to Bowman, who looks to be in good position to come out of this weekend’s Roval race still in the playoff hunt. I just don’t see analysts looking back in ten years and saying “Wow! It was that move to the #48 that changed Bowman’s entire career!” I think he will follow the same rate of ascension going forward.
Meanwhile the question remains: who will join Hendrick Motorsports at the Cup level next year?
Matt DiBenedetto
Yes, I am saving the best news for last. After weeks of uncertainty (during which he still managed a pair of runner-up finishes), Matt DiBenedetto knows that he will be driving the famed #21 for the Wood Brothers in 2021, after which Austin Cindric will be called up from the Xfinity series to take over in 2022.
Before I get too far into this section, I want to say I do feel bad for Cindric to not get a full-time Cup ride somewhere this season. (I understand he will get a few starts for Penske in 2021.) I think his success in the Xfinity season in 2020 has earned him an opportunity.
That does not, however, take away from what might be the best feel-good story in NASCAR in 2020. Matt DiBenedetto took a mid-level ride in #95 Leavine Family Racing and competed against top-level teams during the Daytona 500 and the Bristol Night Race. This year, he made the playoffs for the first time in his career. While few expected him to advance out of the first round, it was one of those situations where not winning wasn’t a failure, just being a part of the playoffs was success beyond what probably was a wild dream at the season’s beginning.
It is hard not to be a Matt DiBenedetto fan. Every year, it seems like he has to fight and claw his way just for the chance to come back next year. And in listening to him speak, you can tell this is a guy who just wants to race. And he appreciates every opportunity he’s been given.
This is the same guy who finished sixth a few years ago (ironically, I think it was at Bristol) and treated it like it was the biggest win of his life. Even his hometown gave him a hero’s welcome. Compare that to these guys who run Top 5 or Top 10 every race, finish third and get out of the car complaining about everything and blaming everybody from his crew to other competitors to NASCAR officials.
Hell, I think more than anything, he wants to be the guy that brings the Wood Brothers that 100% championship. To me, Matt DiBenedetto reminds me a little of Clint Bowyer, who as I’m writing this I am hearing has announced his retirement) had ever won the Daytona 500 or a Cup championship, the post-race interview might have eclipsed the victory itself.
Whether DiBenedetto’s first Cup win comes at the Roval this weekend or next year’s Daytona 500, he will show emotion rarely seen in any sport. He will not act like this was something he was entitled to. After all his hard work, heartbreaks, and perseverance, he will show appreciation for the opportunity to compete at this level.
Yes, this contract extension only means that DiBenedetto has job security for another year. But give this man another year in “the Show” with a Penske-supported ride and he’ll take it as that opportunity to showcase himself. Where will he be in 2022? If there’s any justice in the world (which in 2020 may be the big question – and by no means, just for NASCAR), someone will have ensured Matt DiBenedetto will have a top-notch ride.
If you truly consider yourself a NASCAR fan, on some level you must be a Matt DiBenedetto fan. I would go so far as to suggest even non-NASCAR fans could find themselves rooting for Matty D. If Hollywood actually made movies instead of just politically-correct reboots because they’re so damned scared of the Cancel Culture, some day there would be a movie made about the Matt DiBenedetto story.
At the very least, let me say I’ll take a Matt DiBenedetto over a hundred Kyle Buschs any day of the week.
johnmilner.ca 